Memory

Upon reading about the difficulty in finding a proper memorial to the people who perished in the Oklahoma City bombing (April 19), may I suggest: Instead of a monument to the dead, why not put all those millions of dollars in a fund to establish day care centers throughout the city, which are so sorely needed. Each center could be named for a child who perished or was critically injured, thus perpetuating his or her memory and benefiting thousands of children and working parents.

The Los Angeles Police Department unveiled a memorial star Friday to honor fallen LAPD Officer Nicholas Lee. Lee's family, including his mother and brother, attended the service unveiling the star at the entrance to the LAPD Hollywood Division at 1358 North Wilcox Ave. LAPD officers from around the city came for the memorial. Lee was killed on March 7 when his patrol car was hit by a dump truck. Lee's is the eighth star at the Hollywood Division memorializing Hollywood LAPD officers killed in the line of duty.

Dieters may want to forget episodes of falling off the wagon, but researchers say an attentive memory for what is eaten could help people eat less at their next meals. So sitting at a movie with a bucket of popcorn holding perhaps a day's worth of calories might be a bad idea for the present and the future, the research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests. In an analysis of 24 studies , the researchers found that while distractions can lead to increased eating, that distraction is even more influential on later eating.

Mammoth Mountain plans to be open Memorial Day weekend and is featuring a $180 three-day pass and 20% off lodgings for the holiday weekend. Spring skiing rates at the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., ski resort started this week, with savings and slope time for those who don't want to give in to summer just yet. The deal: The ski resort Thursday reported a base depth of 20 inches at the main lodge (8,900 feet) and 50 inches at the summit (11,053 feet). Though temperatures were in the low 50s on Thursday, the resort was expecting more than a foot of snow by Saturday morning.

In the annals of criminal law, there has never been anything quite like the case of the People vs. George Thomas Franklin Sr. Franklin, a craggy-faced middle-aged man, was living near Sacramento in 1989 when his grown daughter, Eileen Franklin-Lipsker of Canoga Park, came forward and told an incredible tale. As a child 20 years earlier, she said, she witnessed her father rape her childhood friend, 8-year-old Susan Nason, then smash the little girl's skull with a rock.

Re "The day after 9/11," Opinion, Sept. 10 Americans were confronted with terrible images on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. By day's end, families, friends and neighbors had come together as one nation united in grief. The following day will be etched in my memory forever. I was driving and came to an intersection where all the cars had stopped. I observed several firefighters dressed in full gear, each holding a black boot. They went car to car collecting donations for the families of first responders who had died in the attacks.

In a finding that makes clear that appetite is often a case of mind over matter, new research finds that the memory of a hearty recent meal can fill you up. But the memory of a stingy serving of victuals -- even an inaccurate memory -- can make you hungrier, and prompt heavier eating at the next meal, researchers found. The study , published Wednesday in the journal Public Library of Science One, used an ingenious trick to manipulate research subjects' memories of a lunchtime meal they had: At the bottom of a soup bowl filled with cream of tomato soup, they installed a hidden pump, which could be used to surreptitiously refill the bowl while the subject ate or draw down its contents.

We make hundreds of decisions every day, and many times we can't fully explain why we choose one option over another. Now a new study reveals at least one reason why we make the choices we do: Because of the way our memories work, the context in which we have positive experiences can bias our decision-making later. Our brains allow us to remember things in part because they make associations between different things that occur together: Between a speaking face and words, between a location and what happened there, between dates and facts.

Scientists are one step closer to understanding how to erase painful fear memories by successfully erasing them in a small group of people, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The intervention requires no drug, acting through behavioral intervention alone. The new report follows a series of studies in which researchers have made significant headway in understanding where such fear memories are processed in the brain, and how to erase them for good. Much of this research has been carried out in rodents, where researchers have shown that it is possible to erase fear memories by both pharmacological and behavioral means.

WASHINGTON - On Monday, if all goes according to plan, I'll be lining up at the start of the Boston Marathon. Let's just say this up front: I probably shouldn't be. I signed up last September, but over the last few months, training season, I've been fighting one of those frustrating injuries that just would not come around. Figuring for weeks that it was just a bad hamstring, I stubbornly dragged my bad leg like a piece of wood over snow and black ice, all through a relentless, miserable Northeast winter.

April 15, 2014 | By Alana Semuels, This post has been updated throughout with new developments.

BOSTON -- A memorial for the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings ended Tuesday with a thunderous speech from Vice President Joe Biden, who closed an afternoon highlighting remarks from bombing survivors and dignitaries. “We will never yield, we will never cower, America will never ever, ever stand down,” Biden said. “We are Boston. We are America. We respond, we endure, we overcome, and we own the finish line! God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.” The afternoon will continue with a flag-raising and a moment of silence at the marathon finish line at 2:49 p.m., the moment the bombs exploded.

A public memorial will be held Sunday morning for renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. A. Richard Grossman , who pioneered the comprehensive care of burn patients in Sherman Oaks. The memorial will be held at 11am at Hollywood's Old Fire Station 27 at 1355 N. Cahuenga Blvd., which houses a museum run by the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society. The Los Angeles Fire Department invites all to attend. "Dr. Grossman was certainly one of us," LAFD Interim Fire Chief James Featherstone told City News Service.

WASHINGTON - Obama administration lawyers have told the Supreme Court they will strongly defend the 29-foot-tall cross atop Mount Soledad in San Diego as a memorial to the nation's war veterans and not an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity by the government. But they also said the 9th Circuit court in San Francisco should be given “additional time for reflection” to correct its mistake and uphold the constitutionality of the cross. The administration's position, sent to the court this week, means the high court will likely have to decide the fate of the San Diego cross, but not this year.

KILLEEN, Texas - Security has tightened around Ft. Hood as soldiers and their families prepared to host President Obama and other dignitaries Wednesday for a memorial honoring those killed last week when one of their own opened fire on fellow troops. Spc. Ivan Lopez, 34, killed three soldiers and wounded 16 others before shooting himself in the head. Lopez had recently learned that his request for a leave of absence following the death of his mother was rejected, infuriating him, officials told the Los Angeles Times.

FT. HOOD, Texas - For the second time in five years, President Obama came to this sprawling Army post to console a community all too familiar with death, to offer a nation's condolences and to remind soldiers and their families of the healing power of love. The president stood on a platform under bright sun and blue skies, reciting the names of the three soldiers who were killed in a shooting rampage last week. Before him stood their portraits, boots, rifles and helmets, what are known as "battlefield crosses.

SOCHI, Russia -- American ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson was clearly favoring her surgically repaired right knee in Tuesday night's normal hill final at the Sochi Olympics. But that wasn't the only thing bothering the reigning world champion as she limped to a 21st-place finish. "The pressure, everything, it kind of overtakes your mind," she said. "I didn't have a very good first jump and my coach was like, 'What were you thinking?' And I have no idea. " Hendrickson can leave Russia with at least one distinct memory.

Thanks for printing "The Man Who Remembered Nothing" (by Gordon Steel, as told to Dana Harris, Feb. 3). It is a touching story and beautifully written. Surely we can all learn from Steel's determination to overcome persistent memory loss and develop a career in a field where memory is everything--and from the kind and useful assistance of his friend Jerry Edelstein and the loyal support of his family. Vanda Krefft Santa Monica

FT. HOOD, Texas -- Five years after he sought to comfort soldiers devastated by the deadliest attack on a U.S. military base, President Obama returned to Ft. Hood on Wednesday to once more offer condolences and pledges of support, repeatedly invoking Scripture and its stirring words on the power of love to heal. Obama, citing 1 Corinthians, said, “With God's amazing grace we somehow bear what seems unbearable. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama plan to attend a memorial service at Ft. Hood in Texas on Wednesday after last week's shooting spree at the base, a White House official said Sunday. In an appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation," Dan Pfeiffer, an assistant and advisor to the president, confirmed the appearance. Pfeiffer also said Pentagon officials were against arming soldiers inside the base in the wake of the shooting. On Wednesday, Spc. Ivan Lopez killed three fellow service members with a handgun and wounded 16 others before shooting himself in the head, officials said . It was the second shooting attack on the base in five years; in 2009, a disgruntled major killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.